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Most Beautiful Unclimbed Line in Patagonia Climbed

French alpinists Lise Billon, François Poncet, Jeremy Stagnetto, Jerome Sullivan and Spaniard Pedro Diaz have put up a new line on the southeast ridge of Cerro Murallón in Patagonia.

While Eric Shipton nearly gave Cerro Murallón its first ascent in 1961, the actual summit was not reached until ten years after the Argentinian attempt on Pillar del Sol Naciente. According to PlanetMountain.com, Italian alpinists Cassimiro Ferrari, Carlo Aldè and Paolo Vitali finally reached the peak via Aldè-Ferrari-Vitali (VI 5.10 A2/3, 4,900 feet) on the mountain's North Pillar inn 1984.

And yet, nine years went by before the North Pillar received its second ascent in 2003. In November of that year, Germans Stephan Glowacz and Robert Jasper put up a 3,600 foot line deemed The Lost World (V 5.10+ M8). In 2005, Glowacz and Jasper were nominated for the Piolet d’Or; however, the golden ice axe went home with Steve House and Vince Anderson for their climb of Nanga Parbat in Pakistan.

Pillar del Sol Naciente is “the most beautifully striking unclimbed line in all of Patagonia,” writes Rolando Garibotti for his web site Pataclimb.com “This line is remote, completely independent and darn hard. It is a truly creative ascent. If there was a line in all of Patagonia that begged to be climbed this was the one."

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